Fairest Of Them All
by Crescent Dreamweaver
Summary: Snow White's wicked stepmother gains enough power to bring herself back to life, and is furious when she finds out that Emma deLauro is her greatest competition. Is history doomed to repeat itself? A/E.


FAIREST OF THEM ALL  
  
by  
  
Crescent Dreamweaver  
  
email: catz4dog1@aol.com  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X, the 10th Kingdom, Snow White: Fairest of Them All, or X-Men: Evolution. Mutant X belongs to Marvel Studios and Tribune Entertainment, the 10th Kingdom belongs to NBC and Hallmark Entertainment, Snow White: Fairest of Them All belongs to ABC and Disney, and X-Men: Evolution belongs to Marvel Studios and the WB!  
  
Synopsis: Snow White's wicked stepmother gains enough power to cast a spell that brings her back to life as the most beautiful young woman in the 9 kingdoms, and is furious when she finds out that a young woman from our world, Emma deLauro, is her greatest competition. Is history doomed to repeat itself? Adam/Emma fic.  
  
Note: Even though this takes place in the timeline of MX's second season, those characters have the first-season look.  
  
* *= indicates emphasized words  
  
-- --= indicates a person's thoughts  
  
Let the story begin!  
  
* * *  
  
Chapter 1  
  
They say that there is a swamp witch that lives in the Forbidden Swamp, which is found only a few miles from the castle of King Wendell, ruler of the 4th kingdom. None of the locals willingly go into the swamp, for fear that the swamp witch will snatch them up and boil them in her stew.  
  
But the truth is, there is no swamp witch. The only witch of any kind there is the body of Elspeth, who was once a powerful queen. But she was no ordinary queen, for she had been Snow White's evil stepmother.  
  
After she had been forced to dance in a pair of red-hot slippers at Snow White's wedding, Elspeth had crawled out into the swamp, dragging her raw and now-completely-useless feet behind her. There, she had waited, and bided her time. She trained a successor, but Christine had changed after her daughter, whom she had been strangling, had taken Elspeth's poisoned comb and scratched her neck with it. She had become completely good, and was forgiven for her crimes.  
  
After Christine had died, Elspeth had bided her time some more. Finally, the time of waiting had come to an end.  
  
Elspeth, who had once been the fairest of them all, had gained enough power to come back to life, so that she would once again be the fairest in all the kingdoms.  
  
* * *  
  
In the basement of the Swamp Witch's house, a hideous corpse lay on top of a stone pallet. Suddenly, the corpse's eyes opened, and she gave an evil smile.  
  
"Finally, I have enough power," the corpse said, her voice horrible, like the crunching of dry leaves in the fall. "I will no longer be a rotting corpse." The corpse began chanting under her breath, and was soon surrounded by a glowing light. Her chanting grew louder, and the light grew brighter and brighter. Finally, the corpse stopped chanting, and the light faded.  
  
But now, instead of a hideous corpse, a young woman in her early thirties lay there. She had long red hair that framed her pale face. A moment later, she opened her eyes, which were pale green. She sat up, and lifted her hands to her face, feeling it gingerly. She began to smile when she saw that her face felt smooth and not like the rough bark of a tree. She brought her hands down, and grinned when she saw that they were smooth and weren't rotting any more. She jumped down from the stone pallet and began to spin around, laughing happily.  
  
Elspeth was back.  
  
* * *  
  
A short time later, Elspeth had made herself some stew and was happily slurping away. She hadn't eaten in over a hundred years, and to someone who hasn't eaten in that long, even the plainest, blandest stew can taste like a feast fit for a king.  
  
Finally, she finished, and wiped her mouth with a napkin.  
  
"Now that I've gotten some food into my stomach, I can concentrate on more important things," she said to herself. Elspeth grinned. "I think I'll find a magic mirror, and ask it a very important question."  
  
Elspeth stood, and went over to the cabinet. She rummaged around, and finally found what she was looking for: a small mirror made of silver. Elspeth smiled at her reflection, and held the mirror out in front of her.  
  
"Mirror, mirror, in my hand; who is the fairest in the land?" she asked in a loud whisper.  
  
The glass in the mirror shimmered, and a moment later, a voice replied, "In the 9 kingdoms the fairest you be---" Elspeth grinned and clapped, but then she realized that the mirror wasn't done talking. "---but in the 10th kingdom lives a lady, fairer far than thee."  
  
Elspeth's mouth fell open. It hadn't occured to her that she might have some competition when it came to being the loveliest woman in all the kingdoms. Her eyes narrowed, and she lifted the mirror again.  
  
"Mirror, mirror, that I see; who is fairer far than me?" Elspeth demanded. But the mirror didn't answer in its regular voice. Instead, the face of a young woman appeared. She had short light brown hair and blue-grey eyes, and looked as delicate as porcelain. Then she spoke.  
  
"Emma deLauro is the fairest of them all," chanted the young woman. "Emma deLauro is the fairest of them all."  
  
Elspeth flung the mirror to the ground, where it landed unharmed, and began screaming with pure anger.  
  
Out in the swamp, the talking mushrooms cowered in terror, and the vines of the swamp pulled themselves underground, so that Elspeth couldn't take her anger out on them.  
  
And in the 10th kingdom, a young woman named Emma deLauro awoke from a sound sleep, screaming in absolute terror.  
  
* * *  
  
**begin dream sequence**  
  
She was in a ball room, surrounded by elegant men and beautiful women. They were all dancing and laughing together. She let out a sigh as the men and women swirled by her. So far, none of the men present had asked her to dance.  
  
Suddenly, she felt someone take hold of her arm. She turned around, and saw a handsome man with curly blond hair and blue eyes standing there. He wore a white outfit with gold trimming, and looked quite dashing.  
  
"My lady, this ball is in honor of you and your new husband, and yet, the two of you have yet to dance with each other," he said gently.  
  
She merely stared at him, and the man sighed. He led her by the arm through the crowd, and a moment later, she saw a man wearing a pair of black pants and a long black jacket. She couldn't see his face, but she saw that he had curly brown hair and was just a few inches taller than her.  
  
They reached him a moment later, and he started to turn around---  
  
But before she could see his face, the room and everyone in it disappeared, and was immediately replaced by a swamp. She became aware almost immediately that someone was screaming in pure anger, and gasped as she was bombarded by images of complete and utter hatred.  
  
Suddenly, she became aware that someone else was screaming, too. It took her a moment before she realized that the new screams were coming from her throat.  
  
**end dream sequence**  
  
Emma deLauro sat up in bed, screaming shrilly. An instant later, her bedroom door burst open, and Adam ran into her room. He wore a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.  
  
"Emma, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly. Emma stopped screaming, and held her head in both hands, whimpering faintly.  
  
"Bad dream," she whispered.  
  
Without hesitation, Adam sat down on the edge of Emma's bed and pulled her into his arms, hugging her.  
  
"It's all right," he said soothingly. "The nightmare's over. You're safe now."  
  
Emma tried to pull away, but Adam held onto her tightly. Finally, she gave in, and buried her face in his shoulder. Adam rocked her back and forth, as though she was a small child.  
  
"I've never felt such hatred in my life," whispered Emma fearfully. "And every bit of it was aimed at me." She sniffled, and then went on. "Before I started screaming, the person who was feeling hatred towards me was screaming. But it didn't sound like she was screaming out of terror; instead, it sounded like she was screaming out of pure anger."  
  
Adam hugged her tightly. "Well, don't worry," he replied gently. "Whoever it was that was feeling anger towards you, they can't touch you. And if they try to hurt you, I'll gladly rearrange their faces for them."  
  
Emma smiled, and Adam let go of her. He smiled down at her, his dark brown eyes crinkling slightly at the corners. Then he started to get up, but before he could, Emma placed a hand on his arm.  
  
"Adam, please don't go," she pleaded. Adam gave her a reassuring smile.  
  
"Don't worry," he said softly. "I'll stay until you fall asleep. All right?" Emma nodded, and lay down.  
  
Adam stayed beside her, stroking her hair gently. A moment later, Emma was sound asleep, her chest rising and falling with each breath she took. Adam's hand left her hair and gently stroked her cheek for a second before he removed it. He walked out of her room, and quietly closed the door behind him.  
  
* * *  
  
The next morning, Emma walked downstairs to Sanctuary's kitchen, and saw that Shalimar Fox, Jesse Kilmartin, and Brennan Mulwray were already in there. The three of them looked up and smiled at her.  
  
"Hey, Emma," said Jesse cheerfully. "Hope you slept okay last night."  
  
"No, I didn't," Emma replied, rubbing her eyes. "Didn't you hear me screaming bloody murder last night?"  
  
Shalimar, Jesse, and Brennan all stared at her in shock.  
  
"Emma, what are you talking about?" Shalimar demanded finally. "I didn't hear a thing."  
  
"Neither did I," said Brennan.  
  
"Or me," added Jesse.  
  
Now it was Emma's turn to stare. But before she could say anything, she and the others were distracted by the appearance of an utterly bizarre sight. What looked like a doorway had just appeared in the air a few feet away. It was pale blue, and shimmered slightly like the water in a crystal- clear pond.  
  
* * *  
  
Bayville, New York  
  
Five minutes earlier  
  
Wolf Greyson looked over at his wife, Virginia, and gave her a wolfish grin.  
  
"Are you ready to go rescue the damsel from the clutches of the evil queen?" he asked, sounding very much like the hero from a fairy tale that he was.  
  
"I'm ready," Virginia replied. Suddenly, there was a knock on the front door, and she went to go answer it.  
  
Sixteen year old Kurt Wagner, also known as Nightcrawler, stood on the porch.  
  
"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Greyson," he said politely, though he looked slightly anxious. "Have you heard from Crescent yet?"  
  
"We received a letter from her yesterday," Virginia replied, smiling at the X-Man. "She says that her head feels much better."  
  
Kurt let out a sigh of relief, visibly relaxing. Crescent was one of the people closest to him, and he'd been very upset when he'd heard that she'd fallen down the stairs and had hit her head.  
  
"Do you know if she's coming home for a visit soon?" he asked.  
  
"She'll be coming home for Christmas vacation," replied Virginia. "Wolf and I have to go now. We have reason to believe that someone's in danger from Snow White's stepmother."  
  
Kurt turned pale. "Was?! But---but---but she's *dead*!"  
  
"She gained enough power to bring herself back to life," said Wolf from behind Virginia.  
  
Kurt stared at them both, and then straightened up. "If you need any help fighting the evil stepmother, the X-Men will gladly take up the challenge."  
  
"Thank you, Kurt," said Virginia gratefully.  
  
Kurt glanced around, making sure that no one was watching. Then he disappeared in a small cloud of smoke that smelled like rotten eggs. Virginia wrinkled her nose, and behind her, Wolf gagged.  
  
When they'd both calmed down, they went over to the closet, and went to the 4th kingdom via their side of the magic mirror. When they got there, they were greeted by King Wendell, Snow White's grandson.  
  
"Wolf, Virginia," he said. "I'm going to make the change in the magic mirror so that it will take you to wherever this Emma deLauro is. Since you don't know exactly where she is, the mirror will automatically take you to her, no matter where her location is."  
  
"Thank you, Wendell," replied Wolf. "Please hurry. We don't know when she's supposed to be attacked by the wicked stepmother."  
  
Wendell nodded, and went over to the mirror, turning it off. He made a few adjustments, and then turned it back on. It now showed a completely different place.  
  
Wolf looked over at Virginia. "Ready?" he asked softly.  
  
Virginia nodded. "Ready."  
  
Wolf stepped into the mirror, and Virginia immediately followed.  
  
* * *  
  
Elspeth stared down at the box in front of her. It contained the body of her loyal Huntsman, who had been slain in the battle against Christine's daughter and the wolf, by one of his own arrows.  
  
She placed her hands on the box, and began chanting, concentrating on her powers. As she chanted, magic began swirling around her, going into the box. A few moments later, her work paid off. The lid of the box swung upwards, and the Huntsman sat up, looking exactly as he had before he'd died.  
  
Elspeth giggled and clapped her hands delightedly as the Huntsman swung his legs over the side of the box, standing up. He looked over at her, and immediately bowed.  
  
"My queen, I am yours to command," he said in a low voice. "Do with me what you will."  
  
"Wonderful!" Elspeth said happily. "There's someone I want you to meet. Her name is Emma deLauro." She lifted her hand-held mirror up, and asked, "Mirror, mirror, in my hand; who is the fairest in the land?"  
  
As before, Emma deLauro's face appeared in the mirror. "I am. I am. I am the fairest." Then she disappeared.  
  
Elspeth turned to the Huntsman, and pointed at the mirror, where Emma deLauro's face had been. "I want her dead."  
  
He bowed. "It shall be done, my queen."  
  
to be continued...  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: Good god, I'm sadistic! Leaving all of you with a cliffhanger like that! Well, look at it this way: if I get ten or more reviews for this chapter, I'll start working on chapter 2. Anyhoo, please R&R, but no flames. Remember, I have a roll of duct tape, a shovel, and a big backyard. You do the math. 


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